Our View: Dump private trash hauler regulations

Monday

Aug 4, 2014 at 6:45 PMAug 4, 2014 at 6:49 PM

As Fall River residents begin placing the city's purple bags in trash carts this week, the city's Board of Health is set to vote Tuesday on an 11th-hour package of regulations and fees to be placed on private trash haulers that do business in Fall River.

Herald News Editorial Board

As Fall River residents begin placing the city’s purple bags in trash carts this week, the city’s Board of Health is set to vote Tuesday on an 11th-hour package of regulations and fees to be placed on private trash haulers that do business in Fall River.

City officials say the regulations are necessary for the city to qualify for a $200,000 grant. This funding from the state Department of Environmental Protection would allow the city to pay for five contracted “trash watchers,” or pay-as-you-throw enforcement officers, as the city launches the new fee-based trash disposal system this week.

When city officials pitched PAYT, they never indicated new regulations on private haulers would be necessary and seemed to invite competition from private haulers. They said businesses with private disposal services would not be affected by the new program. Why, then, have these regulations suddenly appeared at the 11th hour — and why are they set to be suddenly approved in a manner that usurps the City Council’s authority?

In reality, this package of regulations before the Board of Health — and not the City Council, where it belongs — goes beyond the requirements of the grant. Under the grant provisions, the city is required to pass an ordinance requiring trash haulers to offer only contracts that bundle trash and recycling services. That’s it.

But the proposed regulations would also create a $100 annual fee per truck for trash haulers to register with the Board of Health, an annual $25-per-trash-bin fee to owners of those bins.

They would even go as far as requiring trash haulers to follow the sanitation department’s pickup schedule, which is an onerous regulation that will only cause more pollution and congestion on local roads. It seems the city’s aim is to keep a monopoly on trash disposal at the expense of trash haulers and other businesses in the city.

These rules would only make the cost of doing business in Fall River more burdensome. As Craig Jesiolowski, chairman of the Fall River Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Board of Directors said, these fees “act as a de facto tax on businesses in Fall River.”

Furthermore, they could even be overturned under a legal challenge and expose the city to legal fees and more liability.

In the absence of a withdrawal prior to tonight’s meeting, the Board of Health ought to to reject or table this ill-conceived package of regulations until the public has a sufficient opportunity to weigh-in. Ultimately, if the administration wants to propose such regulations, it ought to bring them to the City Council for proper deliberation and consideration.

The Herald News urges local business owners and others concerned about these excessive regulations to join the Chamber’s opposition. Show up in force at Tuesday’s Board of Health meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Government Center, to deliver that message loud and clear.